Funnily enough, that classic template showed up during the caravan’s travels. A few days after crossing over the border, we were attacked by bandits.

It looks like there’s less order present in this kingdom, especially judging by the surprisingly well-equipped bandit men. Some of them even had steel armor. And nothing was rusted! What the hell are this kingdom’s law enforcers doing, if they’re letting such a powerful bandit group roam about? I sighed, thinking of this whole thing as extremely troublesome.

“What? You aren’t going to help them?” Asked Bea besides me with a bemused expression.

“No. This gives me a good chance to see how strong our escorts are. Maybe some of them are even good sparring material.” I said, smirking.

“That’s a little cold-blooded, don’t you think? What if one of them dies?” She asks.

“Then it’s their fault for not being strong enough. I can only wish them luck in the next life. Besides, if I worry about every little detail, I’ll wear myself out.”

Bea nodded.

“Very pragmatic. I suppose you have that authority to think that way as well, given that you know better than anyone here what death’s like.”

I shudder a little, remembering the closing moments of my lives.

“Yeah, it’s not any fun, I’ll tell you that much.” I say. I refrain from telling her anything else, since that would likely just freak her out. It’s better to simply deal with death when it comes, instead of thinking about it all the time. Of course, it’s still better to avoid dying in the first place, but it tends to be rather unavoidable for me. What’s my current record so far? Twenty? I can never seem to make it past there. Even more often, I’ll die before turning ten. Since that didn’t happen this time, I think this’ll be one of my longer-lived lifetimes.

I went back to observing the skirmish between the bandits and the caravan guards from the top of our carriage. The guards were having to give ground due to the numbers of the bandits, while a magical conflagration was taking place off to the side as each side’s mages battled for supremacy. This was actually the far more important fight, since whichever side won would then have total control of the battlefield.

As luck would have it, both sides seemed to be dead even. There were three mages with our caravan, and five with the bandits. While our mages had the power and experience advantage over the other side, those extra mages made things difficult for them. In fact, things started to look a little dire for our mages when their defenses began to crack under the pressure of five enemy mages. Bea stood up, tension radiating from her body.

I sighed, and decided that our mages needed a little help to get through this. Besides, it’s three against five. That’s not fair at all.

I palmed a set of throwing knives I had forged as practice before leaving the palace, and stood up. A quick flick of my wrist set one knife spinning, and the second followed while the first was still in the air. Quite a feat, if I might say, as they both broke the sound barrier.

It only took a micro-second for both knives to reach their intended targets, and pierce right through their magical shields and warding. The heads of two enemy mages were instantly pulped, and the “knives” continued on their path. Only, they were more like deadly bits of glowing metal, as the force of punching through that magic caused enough friction to partially melt the knives. I feel sorry for the loss of two perfectly good knives, but it is what it is I guess.

I also hope that they don’t impact anywhere near a populated area. That could make things messy rather quickly, and screw with my karma in all sorts of ways.

The two mages dropped dead without anyone realizing what had happened. The three enemy mages still left stared at the twitching and headless bodies of their former comrades, and went deathly pale rather quickly. Our own mages were stunned, but realized that there are times when you just shouldn’t question such a good opportunity. They pressed the counter-attack, and the enemy mages found themselves in hot water soon after. Now that the playing field had been leveled, our three mages clearly out-matched the bandit mages.

Feeling assured that the mages had the situation well in hand, I surveyed the rest of the battlefield. It looks like a defensive line had been established professionally, proving that the caravan guards truly knew what they’re doing. Once the line appeared, the bandit forces couldn’t push the guards a single inch.

It also certainly didn’t help that a group composed of capable caravan travelers had flanked around the main bandit force, and was tearing into them from behind. Effectively, the bandits were actually surrounded, and now had to fight a two front battle. I did see several cases where a bandit’s armor repulsed what should have been a killing blow, but the guards thankfully had comparable armor. And they were organized better, and were somewhat obviously more experienced. There was no panic among their ranks, just a cool professionalism that pushed the bandits further and further into fear.

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I noticed Bea watching the people who had flanked around the bandits with concern. A moment’s investigation revealed why she might be worried, as her little sister was among those who chose to fight. And I guess Gabriel’s reckless fighting style gave Bea plenty of reason to be concerned.

Gabriel was wading into the bandit’s ranks, hitting anything she could reach with her blades. Sometimes, the swords would bite into flesh and leave a bandit on the ground. Other times, it would just bounce off armor ineffectually. That meant those particular bandits was stronger than Gabriel is, since armor typically works by taking mana from it’s wearer and imbuing itself with strength. There are limits, but the armor typically scales in strength with its wearer’s power.

I don’t use armor though. Particularly with how I am right now, I think my personal power would quickly eclipse the usability of any armor I wear. Even worse, I have no idea how to make armor myself. I’d have to visit another blacksmith and have armor custom made for my chibi body. That whole process is more than a little annoying, and takes quite a while.

Anyway~ Like I was saying, Gabriel was kinda going berserk in the middle of the bandits, and kept pushing forward. I could see why Bea would be concerned, since it would be all too easy to surround and cut Gabriel off from the rest of the allied fighters. And she was only breaching deeper into the bandit forces, with a crazed sort of look on her face. Her friends were watching her fight and kill with horror in their eyes. Well, they were watching the whole engagement with sickened horror and disgust, not just Gabriel. I’m going to go ahead and guess that this is the first time they’re seeing real combat. Ah, look—the Prince just puked. I think he was watching that guy get disemboweled. Ah, youth.

It also looks like Gabriel’s putting herself into a rather bad situation. She’s pushed far enough in that the path she’d carved into the bandits has now closed off, leaving her surrounded on all sides.

“If you want to go save her, I’d suggest you do it right about now.” I say, turning towards Bea.

She nodded, a resolute look in her eyes. I paid no further attention to the matter as Bea entered the fray. She still is stronger than me while I’m not in Demon Lord mode, so she’ll be just fine.

Meanwhile, I began scanning the forests around us. If I’m right, then the bandit leader didn’t accompany his men into the raid. He would have to be…there.

Oh yeah, man in full armor hiding off in the distance, on top of a hill. You aren’t conspicuous at all—not in the slightest.

He’s fairly obviously the bandit’s leader, judging by the fact that he’s wearing the same sort of armor as the rest of them, and the small group of bandits who were there as a guard detail for sorts. I think this whole bandit camp is organized astonishingly well, all things considered. Most bandits I’ve seen were lucky if they had swords in the first place.

Well, I decided to pay this bandit leader a visit. I figured he’d at least be a little strong, and might even pose a challenge. I hopped down from the carriage’s roof, and started walking around the fighting taking place. It was easy to avoid the majority of the battle, due in part to my own speed. It was actually a bit discombobulating, since I had recently discovered something new about myself. Namely, I can walk really freaking fast when I want to. It was like each step of mine took me way, way farther than it should have otherwise.

Eh, I’m not one to complain about good things. I just wish I knew a bit more about why this stuff was happening. I mean, I know it has something to do with my bloodlines, but I have no idea why or in what direction those changes will be taking me.

Anyway, all this meant that I was standing in front of the leader guy on that hill before he could even register me approaching.

He stumbled back, a look of shock in his eyes.

“Who the hell are you?” He asked.

“Huh. That was actually my question.” I reply. “Anyway—are you the leader of those bandits down there?” I asked.

The man squared his shoulders.

“Bandits? We are soldiers of the Tarnih Kingdom!” He said fiercely.

I looked at him in confusion.

“You guys are soldiers? Why are you attacking a caravan—and so badly at that?”

I saw a vein pulse on the man’s face. Apparently, he hadn’t expected to encounter such fierce resistance from a caravan, and was now mad that he’s losing men over it. Personally, I would have already sounded the retreat, but this guy looks like one of those unfortunate stubborn types. They always manage to kill themselves off like this.

“We were commissioned by our kingdom to attack any caravan coming from the south-east.” He said plainly.

I leveled a stare at the man.

“So, do you realize that this constitutes a severe diplomatic incident?” I ask.

“Severe? It’s just a single caravan.”

“It’s a caravan carrying the hereditary Prince and Princess from the South Haven Kingdom, idiot. I’d ask who put you up to this, since they likely intended this to be a suicide mission.”

The man paled rather quickly. I’m guessing that some superior officer got wind of this caravan or something, and decided that it would be a good time to get rid of this officer, or maybe even take out a few birds with a single stone. Whatever it is, this man before me has almost no chance of surviving what’ll quickly become a diplomatic incident between two already fairly hostile countries.

Bah, whatever happens, I wish him luck.

He finally sounded the retreat signal as well, withdrawing his weary and tired troops. I think somebody’s going to have to look into this incident a little further, since there are several things at play. But that doesn’t involve me. I’m just going to travel with the caravan, and mind my own business. Let the officials back at the palace deal with it. Or Joan.

I think I’m going to take a nap after we get moving again.